FIND YOUR PASSION AND YOU'LL FIND SUCCESS IN BUSINESSWritten by Noel Peebles
Continued from page 1 3. What would you like to learn more about or become an expert and in? 4. What hobbies or interests have you experienced where you have lost complete track of time? 5. What was so absorbing to you about these activities? 6. Can any of your hobbies become a business? 7. What would you do to make world a better place? 8. What kind of work or business lifestyle would you prefer? 9. What’s your idea of a perfect day? 10. How much do you want to work with your hands, with people, with ideas? 11. How much contact with people do you need - none, some, quite a bit, a lot, continuous? 12. Are you a goal person or a process person ...in other words; do you get your greatest satisfaction from setting and reaching goals, or by becoming immersed in a project or continuous flow of activity? There aren't any wrong answers to these questions. It is all about understanding YOUR preferences and knowing YOUR most passionate interests. Truthfully, do you have a strong passion for your ideas or concepts? Do you know what you want and what you enjoy doing? Do you have a sense of urgency in your life to make it happen? To finish off, try doing this. Imagine you've found your business passion. Picture yourself running your very own dream business. You love every minute of it and your work becomes your play. Let's suppose too, that you are financially independent with all money you ever wanted or needed to lead a happy life. What can you see? What can you hear? What can you feel? What is your passion? Finally, consider what effect this will have on your life - now and in future. Hopefully that’s got you thinking!

Noel Peebles. Market Leaders Limited. http://www.instantsellbusiness.com http://www.instantsellhome.com
| | SETTING NON-NEGOTIABLE STAFF STANDARDSWritten by Noel Peebles
Continued from page 1 to put money away in a tidy order, as it did to shove it in any old way. This kept cash registers tidy and made counting money much easier. This was a non-negotiable standard and it worked well. I’ll give you yet another example. As anyone in retailing will know, meeting and greeting customers is critical. If you ask, “can I help you”, inevitable response is “no thank you, I’m just looking.” So why ask a question that you know will get a predictably negative response. The answer is you shouldn’t! So, one of my non-negotiable standards was that staff members never, never, ever asked, “can I help you.” Instead staff members were given intensive training on exactly how to meet and greet customers. They were given lots of ideas and flexibility to inject their own personality into what they said. When greeting a customer, staff members were encouraged to begin by talking about anything except making a sale. They could comment on weather, something happening outside store, fashionable coat customer was wearing… anything except making a sale. The reason for this was simple. The first objective was to always try to relax customer before attempting to make a sale. So “can I help you” was a definite “NO-NO”. I believe that, in setting non-negotiable standards, it is important to put policies in writing. Although verbal instruction will be necessary on occasion, it is much easier to hold people accountable for something that is written. Finally, it is really important to ensure that employees know and fully understand meaning of non-negotiable standards. They need to be thoroughly trained on what’s required, or how to do particular task. I’m a strong believer in asking people “do you understand” and in some cases following up with “show me.” This way there can be no misunderstanding as to exactly what’s required. Although setting non-negotiable standards might sound very disciplined, it is really about running a business at maximum efficiency. And, in no way should that stop everyone from having a lot of fun. Besides, most employees will try hard to please... and they have a right to know what’s required of them and their boundaries.

Noel Peebles. Market Leaders Limited. http://www.instantsellbusiness.com http://www.instantsellhome.com
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